Taste of Texas

Russian Immigration

Taste of Texas

Russian Immigration

Map- Homeland and Push Factors

European Russia lies West of the Ural Mountains. It is home to to people who emigrated (migrated) from many countries. In Western Russia, people came from Germany and Poland in the 1700's, when German-born Catherine the Great ruled Russia. During the 1870's and 1880's, Russian immigrants who had first gone to Missouri migrated to Texas. They settled in Plantersville, southeast of College Station, where cotton raising was the main job. By 1893 other Russian settled along the Red River.

Map- Texas, Pull Factors

In the 1850's a group of Russian merchants settled in a town in Texas called Bartholomew northeast of Huntsville. they later renamed the town to Sebestopol, after the the Russian port on the Black Sea. The merchants in Sebestopol moved to Texas because of the cotton industries.

Russians blamed the Jews for killing their ruler Czar Alexander II and began "pogroms" or massacres to destroy the Jewish people. The pogroms of 1881-1884 and 1903-1906 lead the Russian Jews to immigrate. Between 1907 and 1914 the Galveston Movement worked with the Jewish Immigration Society of Kiev and other groups to help Russian Jews escape to Texas. Rabbi Henry Cohen met the immigrant ships and helped them get settled. Many of the Russian men got on a train to Wharton County to work on the fields there. Texas provided a safe place for the Russian Jews.

Culture Highlight

Nathalie Krassovska moved to Dallas in the early 1960's, when she retired as a famous ballerina. she began teaching ballet in Dallas. Ballet began in russia in 1738, when a Frenchdancer opened school in St. Petersburg. When Catherine II ruled, ballet masters from Western Europe created the famous Russian ballet. Nathalie's grandmother had been a ballerina with the Boshoi Ballet, and her mother danced with the Ballet Russes. Ballet is a big part of the the culture of Russia.

The Jewish people are not an ethnic group from one country; they are a religous group like Muslims or Hindus and live in many different countries of the world. Jews having to leave their homelands because of persecution and move toother countries throughout the world is known as diaspora. Many Jewish holidays honor the diaspora becuase it happened in so many places, and people faced great hardship. Each holiday has its rituals and often its own kinds of food.

The Jewish people have special religious laws about preparing food. When foods are made following the religious laws, they are called kosher foods. One rule is that meat and dairy cannot be be eaten at the same meal. Foods such as "blintzes"- pancakes filled with jelly and covered in sour cream; bagels; "bialiesn", or onion rolls; and borscht, a cold beet soup with sour cream, are all favorites of Russian Jews.

Significant Individuals

Morris B. Zale (1901-1995), jewelry store founder, was born in Shereshov, Russia. His family immigrated to Fort Worth in 1908, where his uncle taught him about the jewelry bussiness. He opened a store in Graham, northwest of Fort Worth in 1922, but the Ku Klux Klan required him to close the store. With his uncle and his brother, William, he opened his first Zale's Jewelry Store in Wichita Falls in 1924. By 1984 Zale's was the world's leading retail jeweler.

Did You Know?

Russians never shake hands over a door way, they believe it leads to arguments.

Moscow actually has more billionaires living in the area than any other city in the world. With a total of 74 billionaires, Moscow beats New York City's statistic by three.

The Trans-Siberian Railway (connecting Moscow and Vladivostok) is the longest railway in the world.

Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.

Where is the largest McDonald's in the world? In Moscow (700 seats).

Analysis- Paragraph 1

Russian Ballet has obviously impacted Texas. It is very famous here. There are now many ballets here in Texas.

Analysis- Paragraph 2

Texas is better of becuase of immigration. The Russians were people that were willing to work. They were bussiness people. This is good for the Texas economy. They also brought a rich culture with them.